Two months after a federal judge demanded the Air Force reinstate lesbian Maj. Margaret Witt comes DoJ’s appeal in Witt v. U.S. Department of the Air Force, with the usual reasoning that DADT is constitutional because Congress passed it or whatever. But DoJ is not asking for an immediate stay of the injunction, as it did with Log Cabin Republicans v. USA, which means Witt can continue with reenlistment. So, hooray, question mark?

Witt seems happy, saying Tuesday, “I am thrilled to be able to serve in the Air Force again,” Witt said in statement released Tuesday. “The men and women in the unit are like family members to me, and I’ve been waiting a long time to rejoin them.” And Press Sec. Gibbs was \all, “This filing in no way diminishes the president’s — and his administration’s — firm commitment to achieving a legislative repeal of DADT this year.”

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3 Comments

Cam

This is nothing new, The DOJ has lost cases before where individuals sued for being kicked out. They don’t mind having the rulings stayed because they only apply to that one person and do not have an effect on the larger policy. Even the previous police where gays were just kicked out was challanged and lost in court. People won, and were reinstated, but it didn’t change the overall policy because the case just involved individuals.

1992, at a time when the Navy was aggressively rooting out gay servicemen and women, Petty Officer Keith Meinhold outed himself on national television. He was dismissed from the Navy, challenged his dismissal in court, and won reinstatement, ending up on the cover of Newsweek.